Poll

Today's Opinions

An important new resource will be in the hands of each county and city government in the Fifth District of Virginia beginning early next year. Nearly a year ago, I began working with the Charlottesville-UVA-Albemarle County Emergency Communications Center to obtain funding for a new visual intelligence technology resource, pictometry, to all the jurisdictions of the Fifth District, which will greatly benefit first responders and local government agencies in our area.

The holiday season is well underway: there are lights on our neighbors’ window sills, wreaths hanging from city street lights, children are lining up in local shopping centers for a picture with Santa, and there are shopping lists for family and friends. This time of year can seem so hectic and can quickly pass us by as we rush from task to task attempting to pack in so much in a short amount of time. It is often in this hustle and bustle that the true meaning of Christmas is sometimes forgotten or overlooked.

During last year’s budget discussions the Bedford County School Board decided to hire out a facilities study in order to get a comprehensive look at what to expect in construction needs for the school system in the years ahead. At the time several issues were being discussed, including moving eighth graders over to Liberty High School to make room for sixth graders at Bedford Middle School. The hope was that the study could help provide some plausible solutions to the facility needs of the school system, even possibly looking at some “out-of-the-box” possibilities.

That summer, Richard Nixon became the first U. S. president to resign, avoiding almost certain impeachment and removal from office. Gerald Ford’s pardon, before Nixon was even charged with anything, made matters worse.

Ford went to his grave swearing that the Nixon pardon was not part of a deal. He even made a video, which was released after his death, denying any deal.

In 2009, Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will receive a 5.8% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). This means that nearly 55 million Americans will see an increase in their monthly benefits, the largest increase since 1982.

Just two months ago the Congress passed the Financial Stabilization Package which was designed to stabilize the growing financial crisis currently facing our country. This legislation, which I voted against, created the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP, and gave the U.S. Treasury Department broad authority to distribute $700 billion of the taxpayers’ hard earned money with hardly any oversight and no accountability for the irresponsible behavior of the financial institutions that led to this very situation.